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Is Litigation By Zoom Here to Stay?

The legal system largely responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by being forced to take advantage of technological advances that had long been ignored. The Rules of Civil Procedure were updated to allow for service by email and filing using online portals; the system transitioned to Zoom hearings and using CaseLines for working with documents. Many of these changes were, according to most in the profession, long overdue and are likely to remain the norm even after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us.
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Limitation Period and Professionals

Limitation Periods and Professional Advisors: the ‘appropriate’ time to take action

Clients place a considerable amount of trust and confidence in their professional advisors (hereafter referred to simply as “professionals”) in the belief that, with their professional expertise, a particular outcome may be achieved. When the professional’s acts or omissions cause the client to suffer loss, the client is often faced with the following choice: sue the professional and pursue their legal rights through the courts, or allow the professional to take steps to try and remediate the issue.
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biases and commercial contracts

Anti-Black Racism and Relief from Commercial Forfeiture 

In Elias Restaurant v. Keele Sheppard Plaza Inc., 2020 ONSC 5457, a Toronto landlord and property manager terminated a commercial lease and sought to evict the owners of a Caribbean restaurant from their shopping plaza. Although the jurisprudence is rife with these types of commercial tenancy disputes, this one is of particular note.
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financial statements

Financial Statements – Are Accountants liable to third parties for mistakes?

Lara Khoury, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, McGill University, observed that “…the accounting profession has evolved greatly. Modern accountants, once only bookkeepers, have gradually been attributed a large range of responsibilities. They now not only prepare, investigate, and audit accounts, but also perform important advisory, reporting, investigatory, regulatory, and administrative functions. This new diversity in their functions exposes them to a greater risk of liability towards a larger range of people”.
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Rule 49 Offers: No such thing as a near miss

The expense of litigation is a top concern for all clients. So, if you are involved in a lawsuit and want to try to ensure that you have the best shot at recovering your expenses when successful, what should you do? One key option is to make a Rule 49 offer to settle. The timing of an offer to settle is important and can have a significant impact down the road. Now you might ask why anyone would offer to settle a fight when it’s either just getting started or getting really close to the trial that you’ve spent so long preparing for. The answer is a simple one: protecting your ability to maximize the return of your legal costs.
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Does the grammar in your entire agreement clause matter? Yes, it does.

Whether you are buying your first home or papering a multimillion-dollar corporate deal, chances are you will see an “entire agreement” clause somewhere toward the end of your contract. Sometimes known as an integration clause, an entire agreement clause confirms that there are no other terms, conditions, warranties or collateral agreements to the agreement, whether express or implied, except for those expressly set out in the document to be signed. The reason for these types of clauses is obvious – you don’t want the other side taking the position that some previous draft or letter or e-mail formed part of your written contract, then suing you for breach or negligent misrepresentation.
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